Career Development Core and Pilot Projects

Career Development Core

Director: Rebecca Simmons, MD

The mission of the Career Development Core (CDC) is to provide career training for the next generation of environmental health scientists, to develop the careers of rising young faculty so that they can become independent scientists, and to attract senior investigators into environmental health. The philosophy of the CDC is that career training is a continuum that begins with the terminal degree, proceeds through postdoctoral training and education, and on to junior faculty; mindful that graduate and postdoctoral should prepare individuals as environmental health science professionals in the broader context .Special emphasis is placed on the career training of clinician-scientists who often do not identify their interests as being in environmental health. This mission is accomplished by the following activities:

 

 

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Pilot Project Funding

The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) announces the availability of pilot project grants for partial support for unfunded research in environmental health or toxicology. Awards of up to $25,000 will be made. Any member of the standing faculty or research track faculty in the 12 professional schools at the University of Pennsylvania, or our affiliates (CHOP and Monell) will be eligible to apply for Pilot Project Grant support provided that the project is related to either environmental health or toxicology research or the community outreach and education mission of the Center. The research being proposed cannot be funded by an external funding agency. Projects that focus on oxidative stress and oxidative stress injury, gene-environment interactions (including epigenetics), reproduction and endocrine disrupting chemicals, or lung and airway disease are encouraged. Projects that have a translational component to human disease, patient- oriented research or human populations will be reviewed favorably.

Preference will be given to first-time applicants that are junior faculty. Senior or established faculty will also be eligible to apply provided that the research they propose is unfunded and fits into the mission of the Center. Preference will also be given to senior faculty who wish to embrace environmental health or toxicology research as a new direction. Applications that support collaborative research that may be used to gather pilot data for a multi-investigator award will also be considered. If funded, a progress report is required at the end of the funding period and awardees must present their findings at a CEET Chalk Talk. The Center grant must be acknowledged on all publications resulting from the supported research.

The following should be submitted for the internal review by Monday, November 2:

*Title of application;
*Personnel information, name, position, title, and contact information;
*2-page NIH Biosketch;
* List of Current and Pending grant support.
* An abstract;
* A statement to indicate how this project would lead to extramural funding;
* Specific aims;
* Significance which must state relevance to environmental health or toxicological research;
* Preliminary studies;
* Methods;
* References; and,
* Budget - The budget can range from $8-$25K. Items that can be requested include salary of support personnel, supplies and minor equipment. Investigators cannot claim salary support for themselves and requests for travel are not permitted.

The entire application should not exceed 10-pages (excluding references). Please e-mail completed applications to webster@upenn.edu by Monday, November 2.

All applications will be reviewed by a committee of senior faculty and external experts as necessary and successful applicants will be notified by December 1.

 

Nanotoxicology Project Project Competition 2009

The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) and the Nanotechnology Institute (NTI) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Nanotoxicology competition:

Dennis Discher, PhD

Dennis Discher Picture
Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Evading Macrophage Clearance of Nanoparticles by Functionalization with ‘Marker of Self’ Protein CD47

Vladimir Muzykantov, PhD

Muzykantov picture
Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine
Toxicology of Bare and Coated Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Vascular Applications


Past Competitions

The following have been awarded pilot project funding through the CEET 2009 Pilot Project Competition:

Roger Greenberg, MD, Ph.D.
Assistant Investigator, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology
Structural and Functional Studies of the Rap80 Breast Cancer Suppressor
Protein Complex

Yi Jin, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology
Role of Aldo-Keto Reductases  (AKRs) in Hepatic and Lung Metabolism of Natural and Synthetic Glucocorticoids: Insights into Systemic and Local Effects of Inhaled Corticosteroids for Asthma


Principal Investigator
Drew Torigian, MD, MA
Assistant Professor of Radiology

Co-Investigator:
Judith Green McKenzie, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Division of Occupational Medicine

Co-Investigator:
Abass Alavi MD, PhD (hon), DSc (hon).
Professor of Radiology
A Pilot Study of the Feasibility and Validity of FDG-PET/CT to Quantitatively Assess Differential Metabolic and Inflammatory Changes in Organs of the Whole Body in Relation to Tobacco Use


Yoko Yamakoshi, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Radiology
Safety Evaluation of Carbon-Based Nanomaterials


 2008 Pilot Project Funding Recipients

Marisa S. Bartolomei, PhD
Professor, Department of Cell & Developmental Biology
Effects of Bisphenol A on Genomic Imprinting in the Mouse

Samantha Butts, MD MSCE
Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Division of Infertility and Reproductive Endocrinology
Markers of Oxidative Stress in Premature Ovarian Aging

Ina Dobrinski, Dr.med.vet., M.V.Sc., Ph.D., Dip.ACT
Associate Professor of Large Animal Reproduction
Marion Dilly and Robert George Jones Chair in Animal Reproduction
Director, Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research
School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton Center
Use of a Novel Xenotransplantation Model to Study Effects of Chronic Exposure to Phthalate Esters on the Developing Primate Testis

Samuel Parry, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Co-Leader, CEET Endocrine and Reproduction Disruption Affinity Group
Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress in Spontaneous Preterm Delivery  

2007 Pilot Project Funding Recipients:

Vivian Cheung, M.D.
Associate Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics
Biomarkers for Exposure to Ionizing Radiation

Richard Doty, Ph.D.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery
Influences of Nasally-Instilled Heavy Metals on Olfactory and Limbic System Pathology in Transgenic Mouse Models of Neurodegenerative Disease

Melpo Christofidou-Solomidou, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor of Medicine
Chemopreventive Action of Phytochemicals in a Mouse Model of Lung Carcinogenesis

Pilot Project Funding Recipients for the Lung Cancer Initiative (Sponsored by the Abramson Cancer Center and the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET)).

Jeffrey Field, Ph.D.
Role of Reactive Oxygen in Tobacco-Independent Lung Cancer

Joseph S. Friedberg, M.D., FACS
Utilizing Photodynamic Therapy to Generate Anti-Tumor Vaccines in an Immunocompetent Murine Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Model

 Anil Vachani, M.D. and Marcia Brose, M.D., Ph.D.
Unraveling the Genomic Changes in Lung Cancer

 

 

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New Investigator Funding

The CEET New Investigator Program helps support the research mission of new investigators that have an identifiable major research theme relevant to the Center. New investigators (newly appointed research or tenure-track faculty) that have a natural affinity for the CEET can be nominated by the Chair of their Department for support from the new-investigator program. Affinity Group Leaders can also nominate candidates from new faculty that may join their thematic areas. Funds can be used to support the salary and components of the research program of the investigator.

Eligibility Requirements
The New Investigator must have been appointed to the faculty as a Research or Tenure Track Assistant Professor within the last 12-months. They must have applied for membership to the Center and their major research theme must be in environmental toxicology. Evidence of this research emphasis must be documented in their curriculum vitae. If the new investigator has obtained R01 support from the NIH they will be ineligible to be nominated.  New investigators must be nominated either by their Chair or by the Leader of an Affinity Group with which they have a natural research affinity.

Application Process
Requests for New Investigator Awards will be publicized when sufficient funds exist. The main criteria will be documentation of an exciting and competitive research program in environmental health or toxicological research.

New Investigators who receive support from the Center will bear the title “New Investigator of the Center of Excellence for Environmental Toxicology”. They will be required to acknowledge this title and Center support on all peer-reviewed publications that result from this support, irrespective of the timeframe in which the work is published. An annual report will be required for each of the three years that succeed the award to indicate which peer-reviewed publications and which externally funded research grants were awarded as the result of Center support.

CEET announces its first New Investigator. ..

Samantha Butts PictureThe CEET is proud to announce the appointment of our first New Investigator of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, Samantha Butts, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Associate Scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and member of the Oxidative Stress and Oxidative Stress Injury and Endocrine and Reproduction Disruption Affinity Groups. This award will allow Dr. Butts to continue her research in the area of oxidative stress and depleted ovarian reserve.


NIH New Investigator Funding Opportunities
NIH Pathway to Independence Award (PA-06-133)
The NIH Pathway to Independence Award is an innovative, new program that will provide an opportunity for promising postdoctoral scientists to receive both mentored and independent research support from the same award. NIH plans to issue between 150 and 200 awards for this program in the first year, and for the each of the next five years, amounting to approximately $390 million. The actual number and distribution of awards made by the NIH Institutes and Centers will depend upon the quality of the applications received and the results of the scientific peer review process.
The initial application submission date for the PI Award is April 7, 2006.  Thereafter, the same standard submission dates for research career development awards will be used.

OTHER....

Pharmaceutical Research & Research Manufacturers Association of America (PhRMA) Foundation:

Predoctoral Fellowships in Pharmacology/ Toxicology
Postdoctoral Fellowships in Pharmacology/Toxicology
Sabbatical Fellowships in Pharmacology/Toxicology
Research Starter Grants in Pharmacology/Toxicology

Health Outcomes Research Awards
Informatics Awards

Society of Toxicology Awards
              

 

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Career Development Awards

K Grants
Research Career Transition Awards

K22: Transition to Independent Positions

 

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Other Opportunities

Graduate Students

Postdocs

 

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© Copyright 2006 The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania